WONDERFUL SEAL ISLANDS. 221 



rather unusual in those formations which we find peculiar to Alas- 

 kan waters. It is almost flat, with slight, irregular undulations on 

 top, spreading over an area of five acres perhaps. It rises abruptly, 

 though low, from the sea, and it has no safe beach upon which a 

 person can land from a boat ; not a stick of timber or twig of 

 shrubbery ever grew upon it, though the scant presence of low, 

 crawling grasses in the central portions prevents the statement that 

 all vegetation is absent. "Were it not for the frequent rains and 

 dissolving fog characteristic of summer weather here, the accumula- 

 tion of guano would be something wonderful to contemplate Peru 

 would have a rival. As it is, however, the birds, when they return, 

 year after year, find their nesting-floor swept as clean as though 

 they had never sojourned there before. The scene of confusion 

 and uproar that presented itself to my astonished senses when I 

 approached this place in search of eggs, one threatening, foggy 

 July morning, may be better imagined than described, for, as the 

 clumsy bidarrah came under the lee of the low cliffs, swarm upon 

 swarm of thousands of murres or "arries " dropped in fright from 

 their nesting-shelves, and, before they had control of their flight, 

 they struck to the right and left of me, like so many cannon-balls. I 

 was forced, in self-protection, to instantly crouch for a few moments 

 under the gunwale of the boat until the struggling, startled flock 

 passed, like an irresistible, surging wave, over my head. Words 

 cannot depict the amazement and curiosity with which I gazed 

 around after climbing up to the rocky plateau, and stood among 

 myriads of breeding-birds ; they fairly covered the entire surface of 

 the island with their shrinking forms, while others whirled in rapid 

 flight over my head, as wheels within wheels, so thickly inter-run- 

 ning that the blue and gray of the sky was hidden from my view. 

 Add to this impression the stunning whir of hundreds of thousands 

 of strong, beating wings, the shrill screams of the gulls, and a 

 muffled croaking of the "arries," coupled with an indescribable, 

 disagreeable smell which arose from broken eggs and other decay- 

 ing substances then a faint idea may be evoked of the strange 

 reality spread before me. Were it not for this island and the ease 

 with which the natives can gather, in a few hours, tons upon tons 

 of sea-fowl eggs, the people of St Paul would be obliged to go 

 the westward, and suspend themselves from the lofty cliffs of Einah- 

 nuhto, dangling over the sea by ropes, as their less favored neigh- 

 bors are only too glad and willing to do at St. George. 



